Monthly Archives: January 2013

Exciting, dizzying, inspirational, hard work and fun – a few of the descriptions that come to mind when I think about the Atlanta show experience.

We had around ten appointments set up. In between them and early in the morning, we stopped at showrooms where we wanted an appointment. In one case we were lucky. In others, we at least made contact with the creative directors. I had taken lots of photos as usual; but on Friday while I was charging my iPhone someone took it. There’s a good lesson there. Don’t take your eyes off your devices.

Today a mild and sunny Sunday finds us in Arlington, Va with our dear friends Irene and Wayne, and I am finishing up this post. Irene should get credit for proof reading each post before it is published.

We had several new collections that we took to Atlanta. Of these the most popular was the Salty Air Collection. More than half the companies we saw asked for this.

Crab Shack

Island Bay

Coral Reef Sea Turtle

Sandy Cove Egret

Manufacturers of pillows, rugs, wall art, paper product and home decor were all interested in this collection. .

Trick or Treat Owl

Boo witch hat Halloween design

We showed our Halloween Cupcake designs and companies showed interest in our creating garden product designs.. They mentioned that they were especially looking for new designs for spring and garden owls.

If a company shows interest it is a good thing to follow up with designs as soon as possible – even the next day.

Doing whimsical designs, as in the cupcake designs, is a new direction for me. I have found that it’s fun and refreshing to move in a new direction now and then.

It’s always a good thing to do trend spotting at the shows. Here are a few of the things we saw.

Owl clocks, Transpac

OWLS, OWLS, OWL, OWLS AND MORE OWLS………everywhere and in all product categories and seasons.

Don’t necessarily be led by hearsay. A year or so ago I began checking out the owl trend by talking with with gift shop owners, other artists and bloggers. The consensus at that time was that owls had peaked and were heading downhill. Well, wrong. What if they were right? What should you do then? Best thing is to make a decision and stick with it. Even if they were right and you still decided to work on owls collection it wouldn’t be a wasted effort. W hat goes around comes around and you will have your owls ready when next they trend. Just like purple, which was popular ten years ago or so, and is now one of the in colors again.

We were also told by one manufacturer that burlap as a texture is becoming very popular and widely used in all kinds of products. Would you believe in wedding invitations and designs? Nature themes such as birds, aquatic, and land animals are popular.

Elephant by Dean Crouser

Bold and washy watercolor styles often combined with line work were seen frequently in the home decor showrooms.

There are some really good blog posts on the show and on trends that I will refer you to for more information.

Our new spring collection for Burton and Burton was in their Spring Showroom. I did take photos of the display but they are gone with my iphone. Here instead is the catalogue page from their new spring catalogue.

Enough said for now about the Show. As always we return inspired and ready to work on new designs. In addition to the owl product designs we will be working on new Christmas collections.

Thanks for following and visiting our blog. We invite you to become a follower and look forward to your comments. Live each day with laughter and silliness and stay tuned.

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Before we leave for the January Atlanta show next Wednesday I hope to have Part II of Everything You Need to Know About Trade shows out to you.

Then when we get back I’ll have lots to show and tell about the show.

Savannah Afternoon mug

The Burton and Burton new Spring Showroom will be displaying my new Savannah Afternoon collection. I hope vendors and you will be as excited about it as I am.

The weather outside is frightfulBut in here it’s so delightful

This is a good time to show off a few of our Christmas products.

Ho Ho Ho
Santa

This cute little pillow is a delightful needlepoint that our Friend Sonja made from our original whimsical Santa design.The original was a needlepoint stocking kit by Dimension.

I keep it out all year round! The design has also been a Christmas tote for Jean Marie Creations , a needle point kit and one of a set of Holiday Gift card Holders.

A New Yorkers dream

I grew up in the West Bronx which at that time still had lots of green trees and grass. But it wasn’t the country, and I was always fantasizing about living in the country. For that reason I loved painting this woodland scene for Current. It was used on a number of their products including stationery and computer papers.

Snowman and Friend

Holiday season as a child meant lots of snow, freezing cold fingers and toes, rosy cheeks, sleigh riding on our flexible flyers down the hill and the happy sounds of lots of kids making their snowmen. This memory inspired The Snowman and Friend design which originally was used as a holiday tote design for Jean Marie Designs, and also as a card design.

Gingerbread Tree

My sister Pat and I always dreamed of having a tree like this. Although we celebrated Christmas and Hanukah my parents drew the line when it came to a tree. Painting this one gave me a lot of joy. Dennis created the design to fit it into so that it made a lovely little tableau. I was reminded of this yesterday when we did the annual tour of holiday store windows on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Tiffany Holiday window 2012

Saks window

Yesterday along with our good friends Barbara and John we enjoyed the holiday windows on upper Fifth Avenue. My two favorites for nostalgia were the lovely Tree and Staircase in one of the Tiffany windows.The Tiffany displays were very small, approximately 15″ x 12″. My other favorite was this Saks window of a snowman and little boy with his dog. Of course the dogs tail wagged!

Sisters

The holidays are a time to share with those you love.Pat, my older sister, had me tagging along wherever she went, invited or not. That’s me on the left.

Christmas cookies

Holidays are a great time to enjoy all the goodies of the festive season That’s what insired me to paint these wonderful Christmas cookies for Woman’s Day magazine.

Pat

Brothers at holiday time Dennis and Fred Kendrick

Niece Briana and Aunty Andy

And best and most of all it’s a time to be with those you love. And have lots of fun.

Happy 2013

We hope you all had very happy holidays and wish you a wonderful New Year full of all good things.

The January 2013 Atlanta Show, Happy Holidays, Everything You Need to Know about Trade Shows Part I, My new Floral Haiku Collection, Everythink you need to know about Trade Shows- Part I, The new updated Everyday Dogs collection, Everyday dogs was published prematurely, Take a b reak-Our vacation on Leetes Island, Atlant Part 2 – An outline of everything you will need to know about Trade Shows, In Between the Atlanta Posts, the great cake baking caper, The Atlanta July Gift Show Part One, Surtex 2012 – A great show experience